Fault
by Quadrophenia73
Summary: They had been making that promise for days. They said it over and over like a broken record. All Mal could do was hope they were right and try to get their baby back.


**Hi. So. I do not need to start a new story. But I got this idea and HAD TO WRITE IT.**

**Disclaimer: Do you really think a 17 year old girl owns Cause of Death? Pfft.**

Natara Fallon sat at the kitchen table late one night, reading a news paper article for what felt like the umpteenth time. Each daunting word that she read made her want to shiver.

She had received little sleep in the past two weeks. She couldn't bring herself to sleep peacefully at night until she solved this situation.

"Can't sleep, either?" a soft voice whispered from the doorway. Familiar footsteps approached her quietly.

"No." She tried to stifle a yawn and wearily rested her head in her hands.

Mal stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "We'll find her. She's out there somewhere," he murmured into her ear.

"I know," Natara sighed. "But I can't sleep knowing that she's out there somewhere and we don't know where. It's been two weeks, Mal. I want our baby back."

Mal dropped a soft kiss on her temple. "I do too. I'm not giving up until we get her back. I miss her so much." He tried not to notice that his voice cracked.

The flashback played through his mind. He thought he had seen it all in his field of duty but no memory would last longer in his mind than the image of his baby girl being forced into the backseat of an older red SUV.

_"Mommy! Daddy!" Lizzie screamed, her muffled screams barely audible._

Mal closed his eyes for a long moment. "I should have caught them right then," he muttered, feeling his hands curl into fists.

"No, Mal. Don't start that. I'm not letting you blame yourself!" Natara said firmly, standing up to face him. "I was there, too. You tried. We both tried. All we can do is keep looking for her."

Mal relaxed visibly. "I... I know that," he admitted. "But I-"

They were interrupted by a tiny voice from the doorway. "What wrong?" Their two year old son stood under the kitchen entrance.

"Nothing. Everything's okay, buddy," Mal lied, forcing a smile so he wouldn't frighten the toddler. Jake toddled into the kitchen and climbed into Natara's lap.

"You should be in bed, sweetie." Natara ran her fingers through the little boy's dark messy hair.

"Miss sissy," he mumbled. "She gone."

"We're gonna find her," Natara promised.

"Yep. We'll find her before you know it," Mal added, gently squeezing his son's small shoulder.

They had been making that promise for days. They said it over and over like a broken record. All Mal could do was hope they were right and try to get their baby back.

CoD-CoD-CoD

The next day an answer finally arrived. A new lead.

Mal watched as Amy played the recent surveillance video on one of the lab computers. The red SUV was visible outside of a gas station in the west side of San Francisco. "That's it. That's the car."

"And that's the man who took Lizzie." Natara watched as the footage displayed a large man approaching the cash register inside the building. Their daughter was nowhere to be seen on the video, but there wasn't the faintest shadow of a doubt that the man in the video was the same man.

"When was this taken?" Mal asked.

Amy glanced at the time stamp on the video. "An hour and three minutes ago. Here's the second clip. It's from a street camera near a cafe."

The second clip simply displayed the red vehicle running a red light and taking a left turn. "This was forty five minutes ago," Amy informed once the video ended.

Less than five minutes passed before they had climbed into their vehicle. Several backup officers followed closely as they sped past the gas station shown in the first video and several minutes later, reached the left turn.

Mal turned onto the street, driving until he saw a glimpse of a red SUV with no license plate parked behind a one story brick home. He parked his squad car on the curb and checked his gun, his heart pounding in his ears.

He and Natara shared a silent glance and nodded before exiting their car and approaching the door. Before Natara had a chance to knock and warn, a gunshot fired inside.

Mal kicked open the door of the small brick house. "Nice of you to let us in," he muttered with a scowl.

A burly looking man pointed a rifle at them. "What in the hell do you cops want?" he snarled.

**;**"Where is she?" Natara demanded.

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb. Where. Is. She?" Mal seethed, leveling his handgun on the other man. Another man slumped in a chair in the corner, his face swollen.

The man with the rifle gave them a glare. "I don't know what you're talking about." He dropped his rifle when Mal fired a gunshot into his shoulder. "Damn! She's... she's down the hall... with the other hostage."

Wordlessly, Mal and Natara rushed down the hall to a doorway on the right.

Mere words couldn't describe the relief that either of them felt when a brunette little girl separated herself from the other hostage and ran to her parents.

"Mommy! Daddy!" she cried, jumping into Natara's arms and burying her face in her mother's shoulder. "You found me!" Tears flowed out of her blue eyes.

"Mm hmm," Natara whispered, holding her daughter tightly. She felt Mal's strong arms wrap around both of them.

"I knew we'd get to you," Mal spoke quietly into his daughter's ear.

Once the long embrace separated, Mal took a moment to look at the room they stood in. He wasn't sure what surprised him more: the wonderful relief when he realized that his daughter was safe or the shock when he saw the other hostage, whose side Lizzie had been resting against.

"Son," Jacob Fallon greeted softly.

**Le gasp-o! How is Jacob alive? Why were he and Lizzie somehow kidnapped together? WHY? **

**Wait. I know the answers. WELLLL YOU SHOULD REVIEW BECAUSE I SAID SO. The next chapter takes place before this one. This is just a preview.**

**If you see any typos or grammar issues, please point them out. I wrote this on my phone!**

**For the readers of Total Eclipse of the Heart, I hope to update no later than Sunday! **


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